thecapitol | blah blah void blah blah spiders blah blah science [open]

Entry tags:

blah blah void blah blah spiders blah blah science [open]

Who| Carlos and anyone
What| Since Carlos's survival hinges on his ability to act like he doesn't care, he's going about his business as usual. Even though he and Cecil had a very short-lived but very public romantic relationship, he's acting like he doesn't care. Come make his life harder. Come ask him how he feels.
Where| The D10 rooms, a coffeeshop, and the Speakeasy
When| After Penny and Cruentus's classy, classy announcement.
Warnings/Notes Possible mention of torture, drinking in the last prompt. Also, the first two prompts will involve Carlos denying any real feelings for Cecil. If you want an honest discussion with him, it'll have to be in the Speakeasy.

PROMPT A: D10 common room

Carlos had known what to expect. Penny had announced that Cecil would be avoxed, after all. He had known this was coming.

That had not made keeping a straight face during the broadcast any easier.

He turned off his communicator and knew that if he was going to make this act convincing, he couldn't hide up in his room all day. Carlos hated this act. It was like he had told one lie in the Arena and hadn't been able to stop lying since. It disgusted him. However, he knew that at this point, he had no choice.

There was no need to fake the irritation on Carlos's face as he walked out into the D10 common area and sat down in one of the chairs. He pulled out a notebook and began to scribble in it. Was he writing or drawing? It would be hard to tell...

PROMPT B: TRIBUTE CENTER COMMONS: GENERIC CAPITOL COFFEESHOP

Here Carlos was, sitting in the very place Dave had brought his last words to Cecil, drinking something too hot for the midsummer weather and talking into his tape recorder. If you get close enough, you might hear snatches of what he was saying:

"--correct about my impending death--"

"--new tactic--"

"--willingly cooperate--"

This part of the Tribute center was open to the public: anyone might pass by and see him.

PROMPT C: THE SPEAKEASY

Carlos wasn't one to drink out of sadness. Not usually. He had been in and out of the Speakeasy these past few weeks, having important discussions about the rebellion.

This time, though, he was after some self-administered emotional numbing.

"I don't even know what's in this," he muttered to himself, staring at the half-empty glass in front of him, which was a mass of swirling colors.

PROMPT D: ELEVATORS

Being two floors from the top meant that Carlos stood a solid chance of sharing an elevator on the way two and from the D10 rooms. He was used to it, and usually, didn't mind it. Today, however, it was all but a guarantee that whoever he ended up in the elevator with would be awkward as hell, and Carlos was really tired of dealing with it. He shifted from foot to foot in his lab coat, trying not to sigh when the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

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"Wait. What did you say?" Carlos asked, his breath catching in his throat. "Do you mean that the people who were brought in before the Arena are alive?"

He hadn't had time to look through the Hacker's post; Carlos had planned to, but he obviously couldn't do it while on camera, and he couldn't spend too much time in the Speakeasy or it would start to look suspicious. This was news to him.

He had assumed that the Cecil from his world had died. Now, if Mindy was right, that wasn't so.

"That's what Stephen told me," she said. "It's been wrapped around my head, and I've been trying to get the word out to people who actually wanted their families or whatever there. He'd been sitting on it after looking through some of the papers he had."

Granted, the news was probably seeping through to people by now. Something like that you couldn't sit on for long.

"Like I said, might be a good idea to gather them up, you know? Otherwise, well, its only a matter of time before they use them as leverage against us."

Carlos nodded, still visibly floored by this revelation.

Cecil's alive.

One Cecil was Avoxed; the other was in Capitol custody. Both of them were still alive; neither of them were within Carlos's reach. Hope and worry battled each other in Carlos's heart.

Okay. Okay. If he got the Cecil from Panem out to District 13 like the Hacker was implying would happen, then that would be one of them relatively safe. The other...

"You said they were in District 5, right?"

Carlos couldn't get there. He couldn't leave the Capitol, and his only contacts were in the Capitol and in 13. His brows furrowed, and his shoulders slumped.

He couldn't help the Cecil from Night Vale. Not without winning the war. And there was no guarantee that the people in 5 would be kept alive that long. Worry twisted in Carlos's stomach -- he still wasn't used to feeling worry for Cecil.

"Yeah," she sad quietly, seeing that this was definitely something that Carlos had an investment in. Granted, so did SHE. She knew that meant her dad, who was dead and now alive, was being held, and likely would be some collateral for the fucking Capitol. She wasn't stupid. There would be no other reason to hold them in another place.

"So you're thinking a lot about this too. Good. You have any idea how fucking awful it is to hate every single thing about this system that cripples your mind so you don't care you have nothing to say or do that they don't police? That you caj only smile so much before you feel like your teeth are gonna break?"

Carlos took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. There was nothing he could do right now for the other Cecil. (When had the Cecil from Night Vale become the other Cecil? Carlos didn't know.) Acting hastily would do no one any good. As much as Carlos hated it, he would have to wait, and plan. The only comfort he really had was that the Cecil from Night Vale was used to municipal re-education and government detention, and could probably hold up a while longer with his sanity intact, no matter what was done to him.

He listened to what Mindy had to say, seeing her anger, recognizing her frustration -- even if he didn't share it so strongly. It was always strange, to Carlos, to be reminded that these reactions were the normal ones, and that his own acquired tolerance for dystopia was the anomaly. "Mindy, this isn't the first time I've lived under a restrictive government. I've learned to live with a lot of what the Capitol does: the surveillance, the banned speech, the citizen sacrifice -- I've seen a lot of this before. It's not impossible to live in a place like this, you just have to learn to pick your battles. In Night Vale, finding a way to close the hole in space-time that was letting aggressive pterodactyls loose was more important than worrying about the thought-scans from government helicopters. It's the same here. With District 13's help, we might be able to stop the Capitol permanently, but until then, we have to make absolutely sure the Capitol doesn't guess what we're up to. Now I know that's harder for you and me than it is for most other Tributes, since our records aren't exactly clean, so it's very important that you keep smiling, Mindy, no matter how hard it is. Okay?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Mindy said this casually, though she was certainly a little irritated by the question. "I've had to watch my tributes killed, my friend taken and tortured, another friend avoxed, another lose the person most special to her, watched the Capitol parade my accomplishments around like a cheap whore and live every day with my wings clipped. I am patient, Carlos, because my desire for blowing these moterfuckers away is more important than petty offenses."

Even saying that, of course, it became much more apparent what a strain she'd been under the last few weeks. It sucked, and honestly, the only way to get that out was to spend time with her friends. At least playing at being in a normal place would be better than actually remembering how much she hated everything.

His brows creased. Carlos knew how she felt, probably better than he could express: he had seen scientists on his team die in Night Vale, his -- what was Cecil to him at this point? -- get Avoxed, and he had not been allowed to perform real science for months, not until the disease disaster. But Carlos had always had trouble putting his feelings into words, so in the end, this was all he could say.

"...I cared about Cecil," he admitted. "Doing nothing to help him, it's...one of the hardest things I've ever done."

Both Cecils, really. It was just that the one from Panem had the more immediate problem. But Carlos hoped that this admission would make it clear to Mindy that he did understand how she felt.

"Good, then you get it. When I say that these people clipped my wings I'm not just saying words. If we weren't living in this kind of state where they have security on security, I would already be fucking blowing shit up and beating and torturing people to find our more about what we have to do. But only an idiot does that, and they pay for it."

Just like Starkiller.

"I'm waiting for my time. You should know that meeting you is the first step in figuring that out."

For a moment, Carlos felt very glad that Mindy was on their side.

"The Initiate can tell you more than I can," he said with finality.

Oh, he should. Mindy was already seeing the methods the Capitol employed as reason alone to make them feel the same. She wasn't called an anti-hero because it sounded cute.

"Ok. If I find him again, I'll talk with him. Thanks. Sorry about that Cecil guy. He made a risky decision."

Edited 2014-07-16 20:28 (UTC)

"What Cecil Palmer did was one of the bravest things I've ever seen," said Carlos, without hesitation. It felt good to be able to say that -- to admit openly that Cecil's actions had been nothing short of heroic, without having to couch his feelings in lies or deceit or doublespeak. There was a hard edge to his voice as he went on. "I'm going to get him out of here, Mindy, no matter what it takes. I'm a scientist. And scientists don't give up."

(It would sound cooler if his voice weren't so damn dweeby.)

Mindy lowered her head, but he could probably see it anyway: a smile. Not a smile meant to humor someone, or to mask pain. It was a smile that she was purposely hiding, because fuck, did she miss someone with conviction. She missed someone saying they were going to get off their ass and do something, consequences be damned.

"Let's hope it goes better than the last time, then. You'll need more than just yourself, of course."

"Last time, we acted too quickly." Carlos sat up, squaring his shoulders: businesslike. "We didn't have time to plan like we do now -- and we didn't have District 13 working with us. Not directly, anyway. I've asked Lonestar for anti-surveillance technology again -- I don't know if I'll need to use it, since 13's operatives haven't shared their plans with me, but it can't hurt to have it, in case I need to move."

Are you offering to help? his eyes said, looking at her quizzically from behind his glasses.

"Also, there will hopefully be less yelling," Mindy said, remembering Eponine's fits. "Good plan though. We might have to alter it anyway according to how D-13 wants to run things. If you can get that from our helper, then I'll be glad to help you again. This isn't just about a few people. This is about letting those assholes know we aren't their pet mice anymore."

There was your answer, Carlos.

"Yes, less yelling too," Carlos agreed quickly. He cared about Eponine, he really did, but the young woman was no help on missions that required any kind of delicacy. "But...thank you. It means a lot that you've offered to help, especially after what happened last time." Mindy and Carlos both knew the risks. They knew how badly it would go if they got caught. Things had only gotten worse for the Tributes since spring, and Carlos was certain that if he were caught, the punishment would not be nearly so lenient as it was last time.

"Nothing's changed except things have gotten more dangerous," Mindy said. "But more dangerous is not a reason to opt out. If anything, the Capitol waving their dicks around has only made it more evident to people they have to be stopped. Who knows what else they'll level to prove a point?"

He looked down and shook his head. "I don't know," he said, his tone dark. Carlos didn't know what the Capitol would be willing to do. More and more, he was beginning to suspect that the Capitol didn't draw a line at all. It would do anything -- anything -- to remain in power. "I don't know what's going to happen."

"Exactly." As far as she was concerned, that was a done deal. "We don't know, and you know what? That's exactly how they like it too. They need to make us so scared and in fear of their hand that we never disobey them, just like the other Districts. That's more than enough reason for me."

He knew he didn't have to tell her to be careful, so he just nodded.

"Was there anything else you wanted to ask me?" Carlos asked. "I mean, we are in the only building without cameras for miles."

Mindy closed her eyes, thinking a moment.

"Yeah, I think I do. What's the best way to know if something is going down that needs help. Assuming, you know, I survive that long or whatever."

Preferably still alive.

That was a tough one. He thought for a moment.

"I'd say...make sure that everyone on our side knows you want to help," said Carlos. "The Initiate, Joan, Shepard, Sabriel -- that way, if any of us are in trouble, we know that we can call you."

"Some of them have probably guessed," she said, smiling a little. "I don't know Sabriel or Joan too well, but I trained a little with Shepard and Initiate's heard me ramble on. They know how I feel, they just never seen me work yet. If you could let them know there, it'd help."

"I'll make sure they know. Oh, and one more thing." He leaned in a little closer, lowering his voice. "Did you see what Starkiller did?"

"Thanks."

She smiled a little. "I could guess, yeah. They didn't like that too much, did they?"

"No, they didn't," said Carlos firmly. "Partly because it caused technical difficulties, but mostly because it told us something valuable. If there is a strong enough electrical charge, the Arena can be temporarily shut down." He pulled a breath. "I don't know what they'll do in the next round to compensate for that, but it's hard to make a system that runs on electricity completely shock-proof."

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